Question

Assertion (A): Splenectomised patients are at increased risk of septicaemia.

Reason (R): Splenectomised patients frequently have an increase in white cell and platelet counts.

• A. Both A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of A
• B. Both A and R are true but R is NOT the correct explanation of A
• C. A is true but R is false
• D. A is false but R is true

Hint:

The infection risk comes from loss of splenic filtering, not from the rise in blood counts.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is B

Step 1: Understanding the Assertion and Reason:
The assertion states that patients who have had their spleen removed face a higher risk of septicaemia (blood infection). The reason offered is that these patients often show a rise in white cell and platelet counts after the operation. We need to check if both statements are true, and if the reason genuinely explains the assertion.

Step 2: Evaluating the Assertion.
The spleen filters blood and clears encapsulated bacteria such as pneumococcus, meningococcus, and Haemophilus influenzae. It also helps the body make certain antibodies. Without a spleen, these organisms are cleared poorly, so splenectomised patients face a real and well known increased risk of severe infection and septicaemia, sometimes called overwhelming post splenectomy infection. So the assertion is true.

Step 3: Evaluating the Reason.
After splenectomy, the platelet count and white cell count do commonly rise for some weeks, since the spleen normally removes some old platelets and white cells from circulation, and this removal stops once the spleen is gone. So the reason, taken as a stand alone fact, is also true.

Step 4: Checking whether the reason explains the assertion.
The higher infection risk after splenectomy comes from the loss of the spleen's filtering and antibody producing role against encapsulated bacteria, not from the rise in blood cell counts. A higher platelet or white cell count does not, by itself, cause septicaemia. So although both statements are true, the reason does not correctly explain why the assertion is true.

Step 5: Final Answer:
Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A.